FARMINGTON — When Joanna Wilbur wanted to purchase local organic food at a more affordable price for college students, she started a food cooperative or buying club last spring.

She and friend Joe Stolpz, along with other students and professors, began meeting together once a week and placing orders online twice a month with the Crown of Maine Organic Cooperative. It’s a distributor of Maine products, mostly organic, that delivers around the state, she said.

Although the University of Maine at Farmington senior from Greene kept the Farmington Co-op going after several members left for the summer, the pair is now looking to expand the membership to include more people from the community.

The Farmington Co-op meets at 8 p.m. Tuesdays on the fourth floor of Merrill Hall at UMF in what’s called the Piazza. New members are welcome, and the timing of future meetings could be changed, she said.

The cooperative holds the power of purchasing collectively while buying from local farmers, she said.

Organic foods bought in larger grocery stores often come from California or other parts of the world; paying the price for transportation negates the fact it’s organic, she said.

“I want food that is five miles not 1,500 miles to my plate,” Stolpz said. “We want sustainable local food that has a smaller carbon footprint to get here.”

The idea of the co-op developed after Wilbur heard author Michael Pollan at UMF last spring talk on eating local and healthy, organic foods. With no co-op here, she felt inspired and decided to take action, she said.

  Stolpz, a UMF graduate, and Wilbur have maintained a large garden plot of their own this summer and have been going to the farmers’ market, Stolpz said. Both also work on local farms.

Being a student and with costs for organic foods high, Wilbur talked to people on campus, made posters, e-mailed professors and ran a table at a health fair last spring to find like-minded individuals to begin the twice-monthly orders.

Getting together once a week, the group shares information about ordering online and in bulk. When one member wants to order an item but not in the quantity available, another will often agree to take some. Items are often ordered in bulk and shared. Members bring their own containers to divide the product, she said. Participants only order what they want.

“It’s a good alternative for college students, but we want to include everybody,” she said.

Increasing the membership with community members will help keep it going when she or other college students leave.

Although Wilbur’s majors are geography and news media, she has an interest in environmental health and helping small farmers, she said.

Starting the Farmington Co-op has taken a lot of time, but co-op members at a workshop in Portland she attended this summer have given her even more pointers on organizing and setting up, she said.

The Tuesday meetings are open to everyone. For more information, contact Wilbur at 577-6936 or e-mail [email protected].

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Joanna Wilbur and Joe Stolpz of Farmington have begun a food cooperative to purchase local, mostly organic, foods.

Joanna Wilbur and Joe Stolpz of Farmington have begun a food cooperative to purchase local, mostly organic, foods.